Legendary Jazz Guitarist Kenny Burrell On Guitar Forms

By: Samuel Moore

Having released over 30 groundbreaking albums under his own name in addition to appearing on literally hundreds more as a sideman, the legendary jazz guitarist, Kenny Burrell, is one of the most influential musicians of the past century.

Burrell’s beautiful blues washed guitar stylings possess a timeless musical quality.

“Kenny Burrell is overall the greatest guitarist in the world.” – B.B. King

When looking at Burrell’s long and successful music career, it is amazing to see the plethora of stunning musicians he has worked and collaborated with, men such as; Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie.

However, of all Burrell’s musical collaborations one of the most exiting and unique is his work with the great jazz composer and arranger. Gil Evans, on the 1965 album, Guitar Forms. This album is one of the gems in Kenny Burrell’s discography and a must have recording for all jazz fans!

So what is it that’s so exiting about this particular album?

The answer to this is simple. The real beauty of Guitar Forms is it affords the listener a unique snapshot of Burrell’s diverse musical tastes, showcased in a stunning orchestral setting. The overall effect is breathtaking!

Even though this album is almost half a century old, it still resonates with music fans just as strongly today as it did when released back in ’65. It’s a singular testament to Kenny’s ability and talent to create timeless art.

“Kenny Burrell that’s the sound I’m looking for.” – Jimi Hendrix

So, what’s the story behind Guitar Forms? What inspired its creation? And how did Kenny and Gil put the music together?

In a recent interview with Mr. Burrell, Orchestral Transcribers for the Gil Evans Estate, Mike Chisnal, and I joined forces to find out.

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Sam Moore: Why did you decide to undertake this particular album? Guitar Forms is such a more ambitious project in terms of the size of the ensemble than your previous work.

Kenny Burell:  Well, I had been doing a lot of different work as a studio musician in New York in the early ’60s, I imagine you are aware of that?

Sam: I am sir, yes.

Kenny Burell: And I was doing a lot of different things for Creed Taylor, who was at that point, I believe, in charge of Verve. I believe this record came out on Verve.

I worked with him a lot, doing a variety of things in the pop world and also working with some people from Brazil. So, I did a lot of different types of playing which he was aware of, and one day he approached me and said ‘you do all these different things on the guitar, would you like to do an album showcasing all of these aspects of your playing?’ And I said, “Yes, of course I would, I would like to think about what I could do.”

And I gave it some thought and decided that it was a good idea, but I would need to have it where each track would stand on its own and be strong, not just have a variety of material for the sake of variety.

I wanted to have a variety of material based on quality. After that I started to visualize what would be the best setting for this production and for the large ensembles, I thought about Gil Evans, because I really admired his work and I had worked with him in his own group. You’re probably aware that I did a few records with him?

Sam: I am sir, yes.

Kenny Burell: I was aware of him and we were friends. I had some ideas I wanted to try out that had never been done before. For example, “Lotus Land” was something that was a little different to most jazz songs being played in those days.

I wanted to work on it with somebody who was very adaptable and not afraid to tackle said work and was free spirited and that for me happened to be Gil Evans.

He was also in New York where I was and was at least physically attainable. I mean I didn’t know what kind of financial terms or contracts he was under, but I knew that he was around because we had worked together. So, that was that and some of the other pieces that were on the CD were smaller groups and there was one solo piece.

That’s how that came about. It was a suggestion from an A & R person [Creed Taylor] and then I wanted to make sure that if I did something like that the quality would be high.

Sam: And with the arrangements, I was really curious as to what extent you and Gil were bouncing ideas off each other or was it simply a matter of you telling him what repertoire you wanted to do, and he went and made the arrangements?

Kenny Burell: I think at certain points and in certain songs I had certain harmonies and chord changes that I wanted to use that I particularly liked. I gave them to Gil and we never had a problem with that.

Gil had such a talent that he could take any chord change or any specific harmonic sequence/harmonic chord and make it interesting. Particularly the way he would voice the instruments. So, I knew it was going to be very good from his standpoint.

There were just certain harmonies I wanted to have in certain places. So, that was about the extent of my input harmonically speaking and then there where other things that I wanted to add to the arrangements, such as the introduction to “Moon and Sand“. That was something I was doing that I created and I wanted to make sure he used that in the arrangement. So, I played it and he orchestrated that for the band.

Sam: And as we both know Gil was very much interested in classical music and orchestration, and I was wandering if you could clarify for me to what extent this influenced his choice of instrumentation and his arranging approach on this album?

Kenny Burell: Well, I’m not sure if, in fact, classical music had as much impact as his freedom of spirit. He really was a person who liked to experiment with sounds, as was Duke Ellington. So when you have that kind of spirit you follow your own music and he was doing that many times.

That to me is something that some people have and some people don’t.  Some people are more adventurous than others and he was a very adventurous musician, which means he experimented a lot. I think that no matter what his background had been that was kind of his personality.

Of course it doesn’t hurt to be aware of all kinds of music, and certainly it helps you when your aware of various kinds of music; classical, folk, all kinds of things; that’s just more information you can use in the manifestation of your art. But, if you don’t have a certain kind of personality, your not going to be creative with those things.

I think he was very creative and adventurous. Like I said about the harmony, I never was concerned. No matter how simple the chord was, he would always make it interesting and that was through his personality.

Sam: I was curious, with Lotus Land how the arrangement idea came about? There’s obviously the flamenco influence with your solo guitar introduction and the orchestration reminds me very much of Miles Davis’s, Sketches of Spain. Was this intentional or was this something that organically developed?

Kenny Burell:Well, I kind of had that background in mind when I thought about doing that song, because I very much liked what he had done with Miles Davis.

My approach to the piece was certainly different than one might think because, it was by an English composer, about an oriental place and its very interesting how it all came together, but that’s what I was feeling as I heard it.

I can’t think of the gentleman’s name now, but I had done that piece on a very obscure record date somewhere a few years before that and I believe it was behind a vocalist. I’m not sure if it had lyrics, you probably know better than I do, because you’re an English person, do you know if that has lyrics?

Sam: I believe it was originally written as a solo piano piece.

Kenny Burell:  Okay, maybe I’m wrong, but I became aware of it when I was on a record. It was just one of those very small project that didn’t go very far. But, when I heard that song I really liked it and it kind of stuck in the back of my mind that one day I would like to do that, and when I started thinking about it, it seemed to me that the sound of the acoustic guitar would fit that piece very well. Then, when Gil put his imagination to the arrangement, I knew it would work because it kind of just came together.

Sam: The other piece of music I wanted to ask about in terms of the arrangement was “Loie“, am I pronouncing that right by the way?

Kenny Burell: Yes, that’s right.

Sam: One of my backgrounds is classical music and I was wondering; “Loie” reminded me very much of the introduction of Rodrigo’s “Concerto De Aranjuez”, with the two cor anglais, in harmony with the solo guitar. Was this something you and Gil had considered when you where arranging this piece of music?

Kenny Burell: No, I wasn’t thinking about that. It was just an original song that I had thought would be nice to be on the record.  As I was thinking about doing this recording, I wanted to have a balance between the acoustic guitar and the electric guitar. Tthis is probably one of the songs that I was thinking about, well, I had been playing it on acoustic guitar anyway.

So, the whole reason for that, or part of the reason I chose that song was to have a small list of pieces that I would do on the acoustic.

The whole idea about this album was to show the different aspects of the guitar and to show my ability in those aspects, and therefore you have jazz, blues, classical, all kinds of things, flamenco, if you will, on Lotus Land, a variety of things, but not necessarily a pure label on each piece but elements of all different kinds of music throughout the album which are part of what makes me who I am, because I love all kinds of different music.

Even on this LP sometimes, there will be different elements, which is okay with me. As long as it flows naturally, I’m happy.

Sam: One thing I found really amazing about working on these transcriptions was I got the impression Gil was quite demanding, especially with the woodwind, about doubling on different instruments. I found you would have a tenor saxophone that was required to double with a bassoon and cor anglais. Could shed some light on how these instrumentalists were able to do this; were they from the jazz tradition or were they classical musicians?

Kenny Burell: Well, a lot of the guys were top notch studio musicians in New York, and the studio musicians in those days had to do a variety of things and had to be well equipped to play classical, jazz, pop and all that other stuff depending on the TV show, or what would be called for on the records.

I was one of the first call guitarists in New York at that time and I recorded with classical singers, blues players, rock and jazz, all kinds of stuff and you have to be able to do all that if you want to be a first call player.

I guess that the answer to your question is, the musicians that did all that doubling were used to doing it. They never knew what they would run into and, as you know, in those days a lot of the pop artists, singers, instrumentalists, particularly singers, often had almost a whole classical orchestra behind them, with extended strings and orchestral sounding arrangements which called for doubling as well.

At the moment, I cant remember off the top of my head who the musicians were, I just don’t have it in front off me but I know they where very capable, otherwise they would not be called by Gil to do that. Again, it was just another manifestation of his imagination in terms of orchestration and sound.

Sam:  I’ve been working from are Gil’s original sketch manuscripts, which are essentially a piano reduction of some of the voicing’s, and I get the impression that a lot of things must have been altered during the rehearsal of this music. Could you shed some light on that for me?

Kenny Burell: I’m not that familiar with what was changed, because when I came to rehearsal the music was there for the musicians, he would change some things occasionally. But there were no major changes when I was at rehearsals.

Sam: Did you have a lot of rehearsal time with the full orchestra before you actually took this to the studio?

Kenny Burell: No, we didn’t. I think we had maybe one rehearsal, if that. But, we didn’t do all the sessions in one day.

We did a few sessions. I think there was time to run the pieces down. However, Gil and I would work together in terms of how we would plan out the arrangement. So when I went into recording it, I was pretty much aware of what was going on and had prepared myself. But, I don’t think there was a lot of rehearsals, I think maybe one, if that.

I know that reflects on the quality of musicians, they could come in and pretty much sight read anything and it was just a matter of running it down a couple of times and recording it. So, it was up to me to make sure I was ready, because that band was just top notch musicians and would be ready after a couple of run downs.

Sam: And during this rehearsals, how clear was Gil in communicating his ideas to the band aurally and to yourself and the rhythm section?

Kenny Burell: Oh, he was very clear. He knew what he wanted and he was highly respected by the musicians. I never sensed any problems about the musicians giving him what he wanted or making any change that he wanted.

Sam: You mentioned that you’d worked with Gil before in large ensembles, was that The Individualism of Gil Evans album?

Kenny Burell: Yes, you know the name of the albums that I did with him right?

Sam: Yes, sir.

Kenny Burell: Well that’s what I was talking about, I’d worked with him before.

Sam: Yes, and how did the Guitar Forms session differ from that now that it was your own project and your own repertoire that you wanted to perform?

Kenny Burell: Well, it was different in the sense that I had the chance to sit with Gil on more than one occasion and work on each tune and figure out how we were going to do it. That was the difference, when I worked on his album I just went in and played on his album.

I just looked at the music and did my best to play it right. But, in this case, [Guitar Forms] it was tailor made for certain kinds of guitar playing. It wasn’t just strait ahead jazz with a theme, improvisation and band background or band soli these were pieces that were pretty well integrated with the guitar and the orchestra combined.

There were times when they were weaving in and out of each other. As you know, “Greensleaves” is an example of this.

And that had to be talked about and put down on paper. So we worked pretty closely on my album  in terms of how we would do this or when that would come in and when I was in or out, when the band was in or out, the mood, the rhythms and the harmonies.

So that was a very close working relationship with him on that record, where as on his record I just came in and did my solo spots and read the parts that he gave me.

Sam: And when you were working with Gil on the arrangements for Guitar Forms and discussing them with him, did you bring your guitar and play through your ideas to him?

Kenny Burell: Oh sure, yes. I wanted to and I did show him some of the things I wanted in terms of sound, movement, rhythm and the mood. Mood is very important to me. Also, Gil encouraged me to bring my guitar to demonstrate some of my ideas.

Sam: When I was transcribing this (Guitar Forms) it was very difficult to work out what instruments were played loudly in the studio and what was later mixed loudly. How easy was it for you to hear different sections of the orchestra when you were recording and rehearsing this project?

Kenny Burell: Well, I think at some points, particularly if I was using an acoustic guitar I would have ear phones. On electric I probably wouldn’t have had ear phones, but I have a tendency when I record to leave one of them off or move it to the side so I can hear the real thing out of one ear and the other stuff in the other ear.

Sam: And were the other members of the orchestra able to hear each other properly?

Kenny Burell: I’m not sure, but I never heard any complaints about it. But, of course, we had the great Rudy Van Gelder as our engineer in the studio and we often got playbacks immediately and we could tell many things from the play backs.

We also had a test play back, so we would play for maybe a minute and play it back to see what the balance was like, and that was good. I think that a recording is very different to being in a live performance because you know that your going to be picked up by a good engineer. Even if you can’t hear anything you know what’s being picked up so you don’t worry about it, you don’t have to over blow or over play.

But, to answer your question I don’t know if they [the orchestra] could hear as well as they wanted to or not, but there were never any complaints.

Sam: And did you have to do a lot of takes or was it simply a matter of going straight in and running it?

Kenny Burell: I don’t remember it being a problem. Comparing it to other recording that I’ve done, it seemed to go pretty smoothly. I don’t remember having an excessive amount of takes on this and I was happy about that.

The other thing was I was prepared, and part of my preparation was working so closely with Gil and then practicing on my own to insure I was capable of doing what I had in mind and what he had in mind.

So, given the quality of people involved and quality of the material and a great engineer, I don’t think it required a lot of takes. Therefor, the final went smoothly.

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For the past two years Samuel Moore, together with his team of transcribers [Mike Chisnall, Dominic Farrell, Maxwell Sterling, Adam Taylor and Matt Parkinson] have been hard at work reconstructing the orchestral scores from the Guitar Forms album for the Gil Evans Estate in America. Due to there efforts all four of the orchestral works from Guitar Forms have been reconstructed and have now been made available to the public for the first time ever via the Gil Evans Estate website. Each score has been personally approved by Kenny Burrell who described them as “Masterful” and also by the Gil Evans Estate who described the work as “an amazing job”.

I would like to take the time to thank Mr. Kenny Burrell for doing this interview with me. In addition to this, I also wanted to thank Mrs. Donna Armstrong [Chair assistant at the Ethnomusicology Department at UCLA] as without her efforts this interview would not have been possible. – Mr. Samuel Moore